


Blaze of Glory

by still_lycoris



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 03:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17276282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: When Near sees the Shinigami, he knows he has won but he also knows the cost.





	Blaze of Glory

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 12dayschristmas

When Near sees the Shinigami hanging over Kira and the Japanese Taskforce, he knows that he has won.

It’s a feeling that’s very slightly more muted than he wanted it to be. He has won – but it was not supposed to be this way. He was supposed to have won before. He was supposed to have out-thought Kira and X-Kira earlier but he did not. They hid the real notebook. They planned for this eventuality. If it had not been for Mello ...

Mello. Who is dead now. The body was so badly burned, it was barely identifiable. Which should not matter. Bodies are bodies. They are empty things that doesn’t require attention and yet ... yet Mello deserved better. Mello deserved better than a lonely heart attack and a petrol-soaked fire.

He can almost hear Mello laughing at him.

_“You kidding? I was always going out in a blaze of glory, Near! Better than you!”_

Yes. That’s what Mello would say. He would likely have been pleased to have triumphed, to have such an obvious example of his superiority displayed to everybody. 

He cannot say it, because he is dead. He will never gloat again, never bluster or threaten or do something foolish for the sake of being better than everybody else. He is dead and will remain dead because the dead do not ever come back.

For a moment, he feels his throat catch with grief. Better now than later, he supposes. When he explains his victory to Kira, lets him know how he has lost, that his reign of terror is at an end, how everything has finished, his voice must be calm, emotionless and bland. He must not seem like someone who can be hurt by death or loss. And when everyone leaves today, they will think of Near as the victor, Near as the worthy successor to L.

But Near will not forget that Mello saved their lives today. That without him, they would be cold bodies on this dirty floor, abandoned, forgotten and meaningless.

Near will never forget.


End file.
